August 1 6, 1888] 



NATURE 



375 



(Pabrornis torqualus) from India, a Grey-breasted Parrakeet 

 (Bolborhynchus tnonachus) from Monte Video, two White- 

 fronted Amazons (Ch-ysotis leucocephalus) from Cuba, two 

 European Tree Frogs {Hyla arborea), European, deposited; a 

 Barraband's Parrakeet {Polytclis barrabandi) from New South 

 Wales, purchased ; a Mountain Ka-Ka {Nestor nolabilis) from 

 New Zealand, received in exchange ; two Canadian Beavers 

 (Castor canadensis), three Gold Pheasants (Thaumalea picta), 

 bred in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Further Cometary Discoveries. — Mr. W. R. Brooks, 

 Smith Observatory, Geneva, New York, discovered a new 

 comet, 1888 c, on August J. The place for 8h. 4631., G. M.T., 

 on August 7 is given as R.A. ioh. 5m., Deck 44 30' N.. It 

 was observed at Vienna on August 9, 9I1. 53"5m., in R.A. 

 ich. 21m. 53s., Decl. 44 49' 26". Faye's comet was picked up 

 by M. Perrotin at the Nice Observatory on August 9, its place 

 at 15I1. I9"5m., Nice M.T. , being R.A. 5h. om. 27 - 6s., Decl. 

 20 o' 42" N. There are thus four comets now under observa- 

 tion. The following ephemeris, supplied in the Dun Echt 

 Circular, No. 159, is 'derived from Dr. Kreutz's ephemeris for 

 Faye's comet in the Astr. Nachr., No. 2849, the time of 

 perihelion passage having been increased by 2 '6 days. 



Ephemeris for Berlin Noon. 



Dr. Backlund's ephemeris for Encke's comet, given in the 

 last issue of Nature (p. 350), should also have been given for 

 Berlin noon, and not for midnight. The resulting error of the 

 ephemeris at the time of discovery thus becomes O - C , 

 R.A. + 8s. ; Decl. - l'% 



The following ephemeris, by Dr. H. Kreutz, for Brooks's comet 

 is for Berlin midnight : — 



1888. R.A. Decl. 1888. R.A. Decl. 



h. m. s. , h. m. s. , 



Aug. 15 11 8 8 44 257 N. I Aug. 23 12 5 53 42 14-0 N. 



19 11 37 41 43 32'9 27 12 32 21 4033-4 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 AUGUST 19-25. 

 /ipOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on August 19 



Sun rises, 4h. 54m. ; souths, I2h. 3m. 18 2s. ; sets, 19b. 12m. : 



right asc. on meridian, 9h. 564m. ; decl. 12 34' N. 



Sidereal Time at Sunset, 17I1. 6m. 



Moon (Full on August 21, l6h.)rises, i8h. 18m. ; souths, 22h. 38m. ; 



sets, 3I1. 3m.* : right asc. on meridian, 2oh. 32"6m. ; decl. 



Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



Corresponding 



angles from ver- 



Aug. Star. Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for 



inverted image, 

 h. m. h. m. 00 



O 58 ... 2 IO ... 126 314 



20 17 near approach 162 — 



21 46 ... 22 30 ... 29 320 

 21 55 near approach 172 — 



21 . 



21 . 



22 . 

 22 . 



Aug. 

 24 



34 



6 



5 



4i 



y Capricorni 

 50 Aquarii 

 \p 3 Aquarii 

 *J< 2 Aquarii 



h. 



1 ... Mercury in superior conjunction with the Sun. 



Meteor- Showers. 



R.A. 



Decl. 



Near 7 Camelopardalis. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



A work of great interest in the history of early European 

 cartography has recently been published by Messrs. Stevens and 

 Sons, of Great Russell Street, and the manner in which it came 

 to be compiled is not a little curious. One of the most famous 

 of the early European cartographers was Johann Schoner, Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics at Nuremberg in the eirly part of the 

 sixteenth century. He is best known now by a series of 

 terrestrial globes which he prepared, one about 15 15, another in 

 1520, and a third in 1533, all three of which are still preserved 

 at Frankfort, Nuremberg, and Weimar respectively. Here, so- 

 far as cartography is concerned, students would have believed 

 Schoner's work to have ceased, were it not for a small Latin 

 pamphlet of four pages which existed amongst his numerous 

 writings, and which was, in substance, a letter to a high 

 ecclesiastical authority of Bamberg descriptive of a globe on 

 which were marked the discoveries made during Magellan's famous 

 circumnavigation of the globe. Only three copies of this 

 pamphlet were known to exist. It was dated 1523, and it 

 obviously did not refer to the globes of 1515 or 1523, for these 

 did not contain any references to the discoveries' in question. 

 Hence it was assumed that another globe, between 1520 and 

 1533 had been prepared by Schoner, but no trace of this could 

 be found, and, if it existed at all, it seemed to be lost for ever. 

 But in 1885 the late well-known bibliographer, Mr. Henry 

 Stevens ("of Vermont") found in the catalogue of a 

 Munich bookseller a facsimile of a globe which he at 

 once recognized as the long lost work of Schoner. He 

 promptly purchased it, and u'timately it found its way into the 

 remarkable collection of works on early American geography and: 

 history made by Mr. Kalbfleisch, of New York, where it still is. 

 But Mr. Stevens, who regarded it as " one of the keys to unlock 

 the many mysteries of early American geography," determined 

 to reproduce Schoner's letter and globe in facsimile, and to 

 append a translation and an introductory sketch of the early 

 historical geography of America. While still labouring at this 

 work he died, but his son took it up, and, aided by Mr. C. H. 

 Coote, of the Map Department of the British Museum, has now 

 succeeded in bringing it to a conclusion. Schoner himself was 

 entirely indebted for his knowledge of the results of Magellan's 

 voyage to a letter written by one Maximilianus Transylvanus, 

 a natural son of the Cardinal Archbishop of Salzburg, and 

 then employed about the Court of the Emperor Charles V., 

 describing for his father the expedition in question. This 

 pamphlet is styled " De Molvccis," and from the descriptions 

 here given, Schoner depicted the new portions of his globe, or, 

 in his own words, "being desirous to make some small addition 



